Johnstown Trojan's Reunion

As the steel mills forged Johnstown in the 1960s, its high school football teams under coach Blackie Mihalic embodied the same tough, hard-working spirit.

Preseason camp at Camp Reynolds, long since submerged under Raystown Lake, built a character and toughness in the players that carried them through upsets of rival Altoona and onto successful lives.

"Johnstown was a football town back in those days," said Tony Gunby, a star tailback on those teams.

Now, players from the '65, '66 and '67 teams at Greater Johnstown High School will have a chance to relive the memories at a reunion Sept. 29 in the Green Room at Ace's Lounge in Cambria City.

"Some of us haven't seen each other for 45 or 46 years," said Joe DiBartola, a player from that era and retired superintendent of the Conemaugh Township School District.

When teammates would pass away over the years, DiBartola said he regularly would lament at their funerals how the players should reunite.

"I didn't want to go to the next funeral and say, 'We ought to get together,'" DiBartola said.

So a committee was organized, and players contacted from those three seasons. Teammates are expected to come not only from the Johnstown area, but from around the country: Massachusetts, Maryland, Florida, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Harrisburg.

DiBartola fondly recalled those years.

He pointed to the two-week camp at Camp Reynolds, where Mihalic and assistant coaches Robert Zakula, Milan Svitchen, Willard Fox and Paul Slobozien, along with trainer "Doc" Stofko, would take 80 or so players for preseason practices.

"That kind of paved the way for many of us, if not all of us, as to how we transferred what we learned as far as discipline, doing things the right way and working hard to make us what we are today," DiBartola said.

"Everybody remembers Camp Reynolds," Gunby said with a laugh.

For many, the highlight of the era was Johnstown's upset over Altoona in 1966.

The Trojans were coming off an embarrassing 34-0 loss to Penn Hills, while Altoona had just beaten perennial Ohio powerhouse Massillon. Few gave Johnstown a fighting chance.

But the Trojans prevailed, 28-25, in Altoona.

"Many people still claim it was one of the best games they ever saw," DiBartola said.

Johnstown routinely graduated around 800 students during that time. So other than playing Windber, it routinely played against teams from outside the area: Penn Hills, McKeesport, West Mifflin.